Report on a one day seminar organised by CENERS-K
on
‘Power Scenario in North East-Present Situation and Action plan for a Better Future’on 16th November 2018 at NEC Auditoriun,Shillong,Meghalaya.India
The purpose of this seminar was to deliberate on the present situation of power in the North East Region of India and to suggest a road map for the path forward.
After lighting of the auspicious lamp by the dignitaries former Air Chief Marshall Arup Raha,President,CENERS-K welcomed all present and said that this seminar was arranged with full support of the Govt. of Meghalaya ,North Eastern Council and all other states in NER.He specially thanked Mr James Sangma.Hon’ble Power Minister of Meghalaya,Air Marshall R.Nambiar.AOC-IN-C Eastern Air Command for their august presence at the inaugural session.He hanked DG Assam Rifles,Commandr 101 area,Secretary NEC Mr Ram Muivah,Shri Jishnu Barua,Additional Chief Secreary,Govt. of Assam.Shri Saurav Endley,Joint Secretary,DONER and all speakers who have kindly agreed to share their thoughts in the seminar.
He specially thanked His Excellency Governor of Meghalaya Tathagata Roy for having kindly agreed to deliver the valedictory address.
Power is the essence of human behaviour & growth.,he said.
NE faces unique challenges in meeting its power needs- be it Generation, Transmission, Distribution etc, though resources are in plenty. Tyranny of Terrain, mountainous & hilly landscape of the region, dense tropical forests, remoteness, lack of adequate connectivity in terms of communication & transportation infrastructure and difficult climatic conditions with heavy Monsoons do pose serious difficulties for the power sector.
He said that the seminar would therefore focus onto these aspects and the eminent speakers with tremendous domain knowledge would be able to recommend an Action Plan for the NE Region in meeting it’s power needs for the future.
Mr Asok Dasgupta,coordinator of the seminar outlined the prent scenario of power in the country as a whole and then the situation in the north easdt.JHe said that the per capita consumption of electricity in India is much below the world average and way behind than that of USA and Europe and developed nations.The per capita of North East is even much lower than that of the Indian average.He also said that while the population of the north east states account for almost 15% of the country’s population ,the installed capacity of of power plant is not even 1% of the total installed capacity of the country.The north east has resources of hydro and other renewable.But they need to be harnessed.North East needs more investment in power not only in generation but in transmission and distribution too.The decentralized generation may be one of the answers.
Mr James Sangma,Hon’ble Minister of Power,Meghalaya in his key note address outlined the power situation in the staes and the various projects taken in hand.The right of way is a major bottleneck he said.The repairs and restorationof transmission lines are undertalen in situ.The renewable sorces of energy in the north east states need to be harnessed.
Air Marshall R.Nambiar.AOC –IN-C Eastern Air Command in his special addressed outlined the activities of the air command in the region.
The inaugural session was followed by session one
Existing Power and Water Scenario in NER-Plans for future
The session was chaired by Shri Saurav Endley,IAS,Joint Secretary,DONER Ministry,Delhi. In his most illuminating address he highlighted on the cost of not having power.He also stressed the need of service of contractors and vendors to be quality conscious.He mentioned various steps undertaken by DONER Ministry to improve the overall power availability in the region.
Mr Amarendra Goswami,Former Supdt. IIT,Guwahati gave a complete picture of the present power situation in NER and suggested way forward to make 24/7 power for all in the region.
Mr Rajib Sutradhar,DGM,NERLDC presented the existing transmission network in the region and the future plans of it’s extension.He explained the present transnational trade of electricity between India.Bhutan,Bangladesh .Nepal .He said the growth demand of NER is low except that of Manipur in recent times.
Mr R.P.Singh,Chairperson,Arunachal Electricity Regulatoty Commission in his presentation gave an overview of power situation intheentire region.He said that due to infrastructure bottlenecks of transportation etc the hydro potential in the region particularly that of Arunachal remains untapped.This needs to belooked into by the Government.
The session was summed up by Shri Saurav Endley.
The session two-Gas and Power Scenario in N.E.Stateswas chaired by Shri Jishnu Barua.IAS.Additional Secretary,Govt. of Assam
In his opening remarks Mr Barua said that the cost of buying power to met the demand in some seasons is very high for the region.This is an anomaly as the region has enough resources of generating power on their own.The emphasis therefore should be on how to make the region power sufficient.He also said that Discoms in the region should emulate from the Gujrat Discoms and become more healthy.
Mr A.K.Bhattacharya ,Senior CGM,Numaligarh Refineries Ltd and Director IGG gave us the complete picture of Indradhanush Gas Grid Ltd which will lay gas pipelines to connect the entire region.
Mr Debalaya Ganguly,Head Eastern Region,Tribeni Turbines Ltd presented his company and the projects undertaken by it in generation of power from Biomass through steam turbines.He said that Assam has the highest potential of Biomass in the region.
Shri Jishnu Barua summed up the session
The next session-session three was on ‘Harnessing Wind,Solar,Hydro and Biomass was chaired by Mr W.Synrem ,Aftera brief outline on the importance of the semimar he requested Mr Arup Misra,Director,AEDA to make his presentation.
Mr Misra in his presentation gave an overview of the activities of AEDA and illustrated many energy related projects which have helped alleviate the lifestyle of the common man.He Said AEDA is constantly looking for innovations in the area of energy generation,energy conservation,energy efficiency.
Mr Misra was followed by Mr Satyaki Sen,Director,Alekos Digital who made a presentation as to how digitalisation will help in all energy related matters ,like controlling consumption for the generators,distributors and the consumers.He presented real time billing platform ‘U pay’ .
Ms Lydia Powell,ORF Delhi spoke about the need of Back up Hydro Power for Renewable Energy based power.
The session concluded with summing up by the session chairman Mr W.Synrem
At the conclusion of this session the Governor of Meghalaya His Excellency Tathagata Roy arrived,
After welcoming the Governor in the befitting manner the valedictory session started with opening remarks by Lt.Gen John Mukherjee.VP-OPS,CENERS-K.
Gen. Mukherjee gave a brief outline of the proceedings so far and then opened the house for interactive session.
Questions were raised by members of the august gathering and by Major.Gen Arun Roye for the His Excellency to comment.
The Governor in his valedictory address narrated his own experience as an arbitrator in a case involving the state agengy and the contractor of a hydro project in NER.He summed up be saying that for NER Hydro Power is the answer.His speech was very illuminating and informative which kept the audience spellbound.Me Asok Dasgupta finally summed up the proceedings of the seminar and said that the take aways from the seminar are quite clear.They are
1.NER requires more installed power in the region.
2.Hydro Power is the priority followed by Coal,Biomass based power.
3.NER should make the region more investor friendly
4.Decentralized generation and distribution in villages and remote regions in NER need encouragement and Government support.
The seminar ended with vote of thanks by Maj.Gen. Arun Roye,VP.CENERS-K
The seminar was attended by ———————————–
and there were very interesting Q&A after every session.